Next stop: Ikea. Walked out with the $49.99 Lack TV unit table, in the birch-effect color. Went to Home Depot to get a board to fit into the Lack’s front opening, walked out with a piece of 1″ x 8″ x 6′ pine (nominal size) that cost around $18.

They won’t rip a board at HD, so I had to take it to a local mill shop to get it cut to size and to get the holes drilled. I had the board sized down to 5-3/4″ x 54-1/2″, which is small for the opening, but I wanted to stick felt around the perimeter so I could shove the board into the opening without going to trouble of installing hinges like Logue does (not shown in photo here but you can see them on the site; very cool, but very expensive looking).

In the event, the board was still a little big, so I had to sand the heck out of it. Please, do your own measurements!

I had 9 holes drilled, each 3″ across, and had them spread out evenly, best as I could.

The millwork was $30.

At home, I put on several coats of spar varnish that I had left over from another project.

Bingo, bango, and it fit right into the opening, neat as you please.

Next, the stubby little Lack legs had to go, so I ordered 4 hairpin legs from hairpinlegs.com for $60, delivered. That’s the special price they have for the standard 14″ legs, the others are a few bucks more, and if I had to do it all over again, I’d spring for the 10″ or 12″ ones.

Once they arrived, I simply screwed em to the bottom of the Lack right around where the old legs were and what you see is the result. Total project cost: $158, for a total savings of $1,340. Sweet! And, better still, my girlfriend thinks it’s as cool as I do. Can’t beat that!

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

Yup, makes perfect sense. Screws in the legs hit solid (particle board?) wood with two out of the three screws; the third goes through some kind of veneer and hits nothing else. Anyway, I figured two was good enough, but I might slot in two or three stanchions just in from the bottom rear trailing edge, just to add some support.

Glad ya’ll like this. It looks simple now, but it took me quite a bit of time to puzzle out.

Looks great; better than the original….. Question: how dense is the part of the Lack bottom where the legs are screwed in? I’d be worried about the screws pulling out since the weight is not straight down, but follows the angle of the legs. Does that make sense?

Looks cool, but I have to wonder if it could look a little bit tacky, depending on whats behind it (especially a bunch of electronics with lights on them, like consoles)

I’d actually want to do this or something similar to the front AND back! It could be a nice little way of keeping cords more organized, designating a hole for each cord, for someone who has a bunch of consoles and gadget cord messes. With the holes there, I’m sure things wouldnt really over heat, which is a plus.

Nice job on this. That expensive one actually looks pretty lame in comparison(no offense, you did like it afterall!) I cant believe the price either…how do these people get away with such ridiculously overpriced “modern” stuff? It looks like only 6 pieces of wood with 9 holes cut in it, and a couple of cheap hinges…jeebus.

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